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The Cosmic Dancer
The Cosmic Dancer
Joseph Campbell examines a quote by Nietzsche, who said;
“Freedom to pass back and forth across the world division … is the talent of the master.” ~ Nietzsche
“The Cosmic Dancer,” declares Nietzsche, “does not rest heavily in a single spot, but gaily, lightly, turns, and leaps from one position to another.” ~Joseph Campbell
The concept of the Cosmic Dancer fascinated me when I first read it. As an artist, I identified my feelings about my own art and how they fit into the grand scheme of things. Mainly, in the difficulties of these times, how do we find a balance between creating and sustaining ourselves?
To create, one must isolate oneself in a state of consciousness that allows creation to occur. We artists often call it the flow, extremely focused, and operating free of time and space, in-distractable. It is the vulnerability to the process of the art. When I am in create mode, with my senses elevated, I am painfully aware of every shadow, line, and form of inner landscapes.
Flow State
I find myself going deep within; I fall into a dreamlike state during the painting process. As artists, we protect our ability to create; we must guard against distractions; to manifest our perceptions and get them out on the canvas, we must be in touch with the unconscious, letting it flow through us.
Later, when reality sets in, we may find ourselves driven by the need to make money by selling our art. Exposing ourselves to new things can “fill the well,” eventually presenting the world with our offerings, our perceptions, in an attempt to, as Campbell puts it, “bring life back to the wasteland where people live in-authentically.” This is the challenge of the Cosmic Dancer.
On This Side of the Abyss
My experience when feeling overwhelmed creates an opportunity for the inner and outer worlds to collide. For example, I am in creative mode, the phone rings, and somebody wants money for something. Or, while standing on a crowded bus on my way to buy art supplies, I must process all sorts of foreign energies swirling around me. It can be overwhelming.
It is not these actual tasks that are difficult; it is making the transition between the inner and outer worlds, time and time again, which invokes the challenge—having to adapt and change at a moment’s notice to navigate the great abyss. We strive, but the Cosmic Dancer is a master at this.
Being an Artist
Being an artist feels like being an onion without its outer skin. Things only can deeply impress or wound me when I allow it. Yet, in venturing out in this over-sensitized state, I find myself easily overstimulated by my external environment. It can be exhausting. Unable to turn ourselves on and off on a whim, we must somehow stay in tune with the natural flow so that it may flow through us to create.
The Call
Is staying on one side of the abyss or the other easier? Let’s not. Let’s say we did; as the old expression goes, why not skip it?
Unless we have a catalyst to take the plunge, most will find it much easier to live the shadow life, doing something secondary to their art in a related field—no need to face and overcome fears that seem too difficult to surmount.
This refusal of the call, says Campbell, creates a kind of “drying up, a sense of life lost.”
The shadow life allows us to stay close to what we secretly love, but without taking risks, and by the same token, without the payoffs.
The Master
To become a master, we must hone our skills and abilities. While the world swirls around us, we strive to find inner peace, attempting to quell our anxiety. The circle requires completion, so we must return the great abyss to ourselves. Then across the chasm again for our journey.
What do we have to lose? We strive towards honourable pursuits. Why not live out our dreams, allowing our deep-seated purpose to take the forefront? We must live authentically; we must do it. Will you answer the call of the Cosmic Dancer?
Cosmic Dancer
“Freedom to pass back and forth across the world division . . . is the talent of the master. The Cosmic Dancer, declares Nietzsche, does not rest heavily in a single spot, but gaily, lightly, turns and leaps from one position to another.”
Joseph Campbell
Golden Dragonfly
Golden Dragonfly
In the waning
of the moon,
Before the rains
Golden dragonfly
transparent wings
sparkling in sunlight
Resting
on my window screen,
Clinging
with all your might;
How is it you
found yourself here?
While summer dreams
and other worlds await
the beat of your
outstretched wings.
What transformation
brought you here,
what magical tide
Or alchemist’s dream?
Cat Portrait
Cat Portrait
Ah, such a life, is the life of a cat . . . it’s a cat’s life.
Summer Reprieve
Summer Reprieve
Summer has decided to grace us with another burst of nice weather. Just when I thought I couldn’t stand the gray gloomy rainy days another minute, the sun has broken through, in a welcome reprieve. Birds are bathing in the sunshine, skies drenched in blue.
I have been clearing clutter, tying up loose ends, and trying to remove blocks to my creativity. I had hoped my next post would be my finished painting, but that will have to be next time. It is almost done.
Clearing the Clutter
So many projects can go by the wayside insidiously, especially when many projects are on the go all at the same time.
I have been trying to finish several paintings which were on the verge of being finished some time ago. Sometimes, an opportunity arising out of the blue, when you least expect it, such as what happened to me this week, can be the catalyst to clearing out the clutter.
“Unfinished paintings, can have the same effect on the mind as other forms of clutter”, to quote an artist friend of mine. Only, with unfinished paintings, your creativity can be arrested, unable to flow through the clogged arteries which lead to the easel. It creates a block between the artist and their creativity, creating all sorts of misery.
Then why not just do it? Clearing clutter is not just a physical act. It is a symbolic act, of being willing to let go of the past, and move forward, allowing new opportunities to flow in, leaving behind that which is unnecessary.
So what is stopping us? I say it is fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of change, fear of finding out who we really are, fear of walking the tightrope without a net, fear that the hoop we may have to jump through will be too small, fear of failure, fear of success . . . the list is too long to name all the fears that can grip us.
The only way to overcome this in my life, I have decided, is to ready my mind for the journey, take a deep breath and dive in, attempting to lighten my load.
Tired of staying stuck, I must find a way to overcome all that has been preventing me from being the creative loving person that I know I was meant to be.
This said, I hope to have some new paintings very soon to post here . . . they are almost done, so stay tuned.
Tragedy of Trends
How many times have you found the perfect thing, and when you went to replace it, were told we aren’t carrying that anymore . . . it was a passing trend.
“It was? Am I that far out of the loop?” I thought to myself, wondering who in the world decides these things.
I think it started with lipstick colors in the seventies. Sudden ruination, when the lipstick color that made my life complete was no longer available, sending me into a bout of remorse, for not having stocked up.
What does one do then? People don’t take you seriously when you have no lips, or eyebrows for that matter.
I went to a lot of trouble to get my house Feng Shui friendly, and found it was really making a difference in my life. The when two of my stalks of bamboo went the way of the compost pile, I found my business phone was not ringing as often. I went looking to replace them, knowing that a certain number of pieces was the key to bringing abundance into my life. In case anyone is interested, multiples of three are best.
Not able to find any after looking several places, I couldn’t help but wonder if lucky bamboo had already joined the ranks of the dodo bird, along with my blackberry colored lipstick.
After a couple of weeks spent trying to track down the lucky bamboo, I ended up in Chinatown, on the recommendation of one of the florists I had visited, who told me that the trend had passed and it was no longer worth it for them to carry it anymore.
Once in Chinatown,I saw lucky bamboo in all shapes, sizes, along with jasmine plants, jade plants, you name it, all the items I had been looking for, yet were no where to be found, until now. Why hadn’t I thought of Chinatown before?
Of course, as an artist, I was mortified to find out that some of the color pigments that I have become akin to, would no longer going to be manufactured, once the current supply runs out. Upon investigating this, it turned out that the car manufacturers are the ones who decide this.
Now tell me, isn’t there something wrong with the order of things in this world, when the car manufacturers are the ones deciding what pigments shall be available for artists to use. Is this not a decision that the artists should decide, henceforth dictating to the auto industry, instead of the other way around?
I take solace in the fact that I still have another twenty years with my Quinacridone Gold, and perhaps by then they will have come out with the new improved version, which, by the way, never ever seems to be superior to the original, in anything other than price.
Summer’s Grace
Summer’s Grace
Hollyhocks, Warm Winds, Honey Bees
Almost August
Hottest day of the year up until now with scarely a breeze. Hollyhocks are beginning to bloom. August arrives tomorrow.
Cold lemonade and ice in a mason jar topped with mint from my garden.
Streets are deserted, window blinds shut tight, lawns trimmed to perfection, evidence of civilized habitation.
Lazy bees drone from bloom to bloom sipping nectar, which only seems to slow then down more. Not a bird in sight.
Yesterday morning, the yard was filled with baby birds, robins I think. The parent bird was supervising the new found skills of the young to find the fattest, most luscious berries.
One disheveled specimen was lying on the ledge of the fence. At first I thought he may be injured, or perhaps one of those who are not strong enough to survive. He proved me wrong moments later to my delight, hopping up and joining the rest.
Rather a strange phenomenon, this longing for summer days that goes on all winter long, yet now here, I seek refuge in the cool darkness, cheek pressed on the cold hardwood, alongside the cats flaked out on the floor.
So glad I chose the lower level for my studio. It remains cooler in the summer, and warmer in the winter than the rest of the house, which in theory, encourages more time spent in it. These days it does not come without effort.
Summer heat gives rise to my nocturnal tendencies,
the notion of sleeping away
the sweltering days,
to prowl deep
into the night’s coolness.
Yellow River
Cats & Curiosities
Meet my Girls.
Bijou is a black Siamese, once abandoned
and Autumn, a tortoiseshell Mainecoon,
formerly feral.
New Territories Must be Explored . . .
And Fears Overcome.
